Star Trek 4 May Already Be In The Works, Here's What We Know

Success in Hollywood means playing the long game. While you’re sitting there looking forward to the next installment in a major franchise, the folks at the studio are sitting at the drawing board trying to figure out the installment that comes after that. The people behind the Star Trek franchise are no different. Although Star Trek Beyond won’t hit theaters until later this summer, it now seems that Paramount has plans for a fourth installment.

Based upon a new report from TrekMovie.com, it seems that there is ample evidence to support the possibility of a fourth Star Trek movie following the events of Star Trek Beyond. Paramount has registered the name Star Trek 4 (a potential placeholder name) and Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine have both signed a contract to reprise their respective roles as Spock and Kirk. Additionally, Simon Pegg a.k.a Scotty has come out recently and declared that Star Trek Beyond is not designed as a "trilogy ender." Paramount has begun to flag somewhat in recent years, so another entry to the Star Trek franchise could prove to be the type of life support that the studio needs to press onward.

While none of these bits of information specifically confirm a fourth Star Trek installment, all together they paint a pretty clear picture that Paramount would like to move forward. That being said, none of this means that anything will materialize. Studios making plans for sequels that never occur is a fairly commonplace practice in the film industry, and just because Star Trek Beyond won’t end with any definitive sense of finality for the trilogy doesn’t mean that it won’t end the franchise.

In all honesty this one’s a hard nut to crack. While the original Star Trek was a hit, Star Trek Into Darkness underwhelmed a large segment of the audience. Between Simon Pegg’s involvement in the Mission: Impossible franchise, Chris Pine’s involvement in the DCEU, Zoe Saldana’s part in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Karl Urban’s talks of a potential Dredd series on Netflix, there exists the very real possibility that many elements from the current Star Trek franchise could head for greener pastures if Star Trek Beyond underperforms at the box office this summer.

Check out the trailer for Star Trek Beyond below:

At this point it’s simply too early to confirm whether or not another Star Trek movie is on the horizon. It’s abundantly clear that Paramount would want to move forward with one, but much of that will likely depend heavily upon the critical and commercial success of Star Trek Beyond. That being said, we're huge fans of the rebooted Star Trek franchise, and a fourth entry would be more than welcome.

We will keep you up to date with all of the latest and greatest Star Trek information as it becomes available to us. Be sure to check out Star Trek Beyond when it hits theaters this summer on July 22.